BA Season 2: 23 to 26 'Retribution'
by The Barracuda
Summary: Three women of Wyvern have been chosen, and the madman behind their capture has fateful plans for only one to bear his children.
1. Default Chapter Title

  
  
My 'home site' archive (www.gargoyles-fans.org) has been fixed, so I have posted there.  
I will post simultaneously the newest stories both there and here at Fanfiction.net.  
Please, if you haven't been there already, take a look. There are a lot of great stories  
by even greater authors. Have a great 2001. Reviews and e-mails are always welcome.  
Laters...The Barracuda  
  
23 - "Retribution Part 1: Lure"  
Originally Written: April 2nd, 2000  
  
November 20th, 2000  
Her bare, silken arms were seized above her head, as she struggled with all her passion  
against her captor. Yet she couldn't move, she was pinned by her attacker's powerful  
hands. Her legs and feet were useless to her, held down by his tremendous weight. Eyes  
of a wondrous chocolate shade welled up with tears, as she directed her agonized gaze to  
her captor's shadowed features. His face was dark and obscure in the absence of light,  
yet his deep onyx eyes stood out, penetrating to her very ethereal essence, where her most  
heartfelt emotions now lay uncovered to his sight. Elisa Maza was trapped, unable to  
escape from a torture that would bring any human to their utmost breaking point.  
  
"Stop!! Stop it, please!!" she cried in a quivering utterance, touched with the outset of  
her emerging panic, yet went unanswered. She choked back her sobs and tried to squirm  
from his entrapment of her smaller body, but failed miserably. She again felt his touch  
on her delicate skin, an embrace of sheer electricity, inflaming her senses and wreaking  
havoc with her sensitive nerve endings, moving down her bare stomach. She followed  
his tail as it twitched and continued caressing her side, just above the waist. She couldn't  
take it anymore, her captor had won. He had at last broken her spirit. "Okay, okay!! I  
give up. Knock it off, Goliath!!"  
  
Elisa's exhilarating laughter finally subsided as she watched her husband lean forward  
and tenderly touch his lips upon her heated flesh. She quickly rolled on top and captured  
his tail in her slender hand before it could escape her grasp. "Whew, you know, this  
thing should be registered as a deadly weapon." she chuckled, as the tail suddenly  
revived in her clutches and slipped down her side again. "Oh no, I don't think so." Elisa  
whirled around and snatched the lavender appendage before glaring to Goliath and giving  
him barely a sight of her malicious grin.  
  
He raised his brow and gasped as she tightened her grip. "OUCH!!!" Goliath yelped and  
jumped up, knocking Elisa back to the softened snare of the bed. He stood to his full  
height and turned to face her.  
  
She was too busy laughing to notice his approach. However, Elisa would at last discover  
the large shadow cast by her husband and instantly ceased her laughing, slowly traveling  
along the breadth of his muscular frame, ultimately reaching his eyes, glowing an ivory  
ember. She sunk back slightly, now perhaps thinking she might have gone too far. "I  
love you?" she whispered, trying desperately to sweet-talk her way out of an impending  
tickle, but knew by Goliath's evil smile, that she was on the verge of the ultimate torment  
he could ever give to her.  
  
His massive form enshrouded above her as if a lavender storm front gathering within the  
sky, with strikes of lightning taking form as enormous taloned hands, just inches away  
from her bronze skin.  
  
"WHHAAAAAAAAA!!!" A howling wail exploded from the small room adjoining the  
couple's, saving Elisa from her husband's roaming hands. Little Trinity had effectively  
made herself known in the unique language only a newborn could comprehend, and yet,  
her parents completely understood.  
  
Goliath and Elisa clicked knowing looks to each other and smiled. It seemed that Trinity  
would interrupt her parents just at the worst moments, and now having been awakened by  
her father's cry, she screamed with all the power her tiny lungs could bring forth,  
desperate for attention.  
  
Elisa slipped from underneath her husband and quickly entered the small room. Peering  
into the crib, she spotted the small child within the mounds of blankets and toys. Her  
large eyes staring intently to her mother and she flailed her limbs, attempting to reach for  
her mother's drifting raven locks, almost flowing within range of her diminutive hands.   
"Did we wake you, my angel?" Elisa whispered as she picked the child from the crib and  
cradled her close.  
  
Goliath came up behind her and wrapped his arms around them both, capturing his  
family within the velvet folds of dark indigo wings. His dark gaze observed closely  
Elisa's soothing touch, calming their child, and soon Trinity closed her eyes and fell back  
asleep.  
  
"You shouldn't be so loud, Goliath." Elisa jokingly chided the large gargoyle as she  
lowered the baby into the wooden crib. She stood up only to feel the rush of Goliath's  
hot breath on her neck, released in a sardonic sigh, and she pushed herself deeper into his  
stead, giggling out of earshot.  
  
****************************************  
  
Decrepit were the walls of this new found domain, as the sorrowful lantern's light gave  
birth to every flaw and crevice of the deteriorating plywood. The large office was  
sparsely furnished, with only a desk and chair to distinguish it's actual purpose. A door  
creaked open with a deathly lament, and in staggered slowly, a lone figure. A clatter of  
talons and the clicking of a cane upon the peeling linoleum, the gnarled sound of a  
pronounced limp in the figure's wretched stride. He hobbled his way to the desk, and  
with great difficulty and pain, slumped into the chair's offering of leather comfort.  
  
A drawer opened with a tug of talons and he pulled forth three envelopes, each with a  
different name adorning the front. Dark eyes of scarlet scanned the paper containers, and  
he wet his lips with a lecherous tongue. Blooming from his ruminating gaze, the blood  
red glow grew even stronger as his thoughts converged on a single premise. A gruesome  
excitement swelled in intensity as he leaned back in the overstuffed chair, baring his  
teeth in a smile that would scare off even Satan himself.  
  
"Three envelopes...for three beautiful women." he rasped in a voice as if spitting fire,  
"but only one of whom will become my mate, and bear my children."  
  
****************************************  
  
November 21st, 2000  
Delilah excitedly snatched the envelope from Maggie's hand, before the mutate even had  
the time to react to her presence. It had arrived in the daily shipment of mail to the  
Labyrinth and was addressed solely to her. The others of the under dwellers were curious  
of who would be sending the young clone mail, but respectively left her to her privacy.  
  
Delilah slammed her door shut and flopped down into her lounge chair, a favorite place  
to read for hours on end. Ripping open the envelope, she pulled out a letter and noticed a  
silver chain clatter to the floor. She pulled the chain from the ground in her slender  
hands and examined it closer with wide eyes.  
  
It was a thin silver necklace, with a small symbol hanging from the front. She instantly  
recognized it, as that emblem had haunted her daydreams and remained within her  
thoughts since so many months ago. It was a perfect copy of a symbol tattooed on  
Shadow's chest.  
  
Smiling from ear to ear, she unfolded the message and noticed the cursive script, suiting  
the dark warrior perfectly. She skimmed the passage and jumped to her feet, breathing  
heavily and barely containing her excitement. "He wants to meet with me tomorrow  
night...but he said...oh who cares, he wants to see me! Alone!!"  
  
****************************************  
  
Destine Manor was shrouded in darkness and it's owner, preferring the Cimmerian  
surroundings, had taken to the peace offered by the night, where she could hide away  
from what a millennia of bloodshed had torn upon her tortured soul. Her corporation was  
taking its toll, requiring of her more and more hours to spend within the confines of  
Nightstone Unlimited's towering prominence of steel.  
  
And with the recent theft more than two weeks ago, the resources at her disposal had  
almost been exhausted, with the daunting task of locating this new gargoyle, a gargoyle  
brazen enough to kill one of her employees and steal a powerful computer chip and a  
deadly toxin, but her search had turned up nothing.  
  
She had entered the sanctuary of her mansion just before dusk, and immediately took to  
her bath, attempting to drown her aches and pains with a strawberry soap solution.   
Retreating to her couch and the book that had so captivated her the past week, a welcome  
escape from the turmoil of her job and life, she didn't bother to check her mail, dumped  
in a haphazard pile on her coffee table. Her eyes drifted to the heap, and she sighed,  
knowing most of the white envelopes were presumably bills.  
  
But one stood out from the rest, a pale lavender, an exact resemblance to her daughter  
and ex-mate's skin color. She slipped the envelope from the pile and dragged a single  
talon across the top, releasing a letter and something else, a thin square wrapped in a dark  
green cover, falling into her opened palm. Her favorite dessert, a chocolate covered  
confection, that she often shared with her daughter. "Angela wants to meet with me..."  
she whispered quietly upon peering at the letter, nibbling away at the sweetened fete.  
  
****************************************  
  
A bright crimson-red disappeared under a concealment of denim material as Elisa pulled  
her jeans on over her lace-detailed bikini panties, a favored gift from Goliath, and let out  
a triumphant laugh. After three weeks of self imposed torture, she had finally fit into her  
jeans after giving birth to Trinity barely a month ago. She and Fox were spending several  
hours a day in the gym, as the former television star was helping Elisa get back into  
shape. And it seems it was paying off faster than she had ever hoped.  
  
She was ultimately lured from her mirror, and the image of her past figure drawn back to  
life, by a brisk knock on her doors. Upon opening, her eyes met those of Owen Burnett's,  
standing in his usual rigid mannerism before her.  
  
"I hate to interrupt, detective, but the mail arrived some hours ago and this is addressed  
to you." He handed her a lone envelope and simply walked away.  
  
The envelope held in her slender hands was a gentle rose blush with her name on the  
surface in a very familiar handwritten scrawl. Inside the envelope and the white folded  
paper, she found a dried rose, but it's scent was as strong as ever, as she held it to her  
nose, and enjoyed the saccharine scent. Her smile grew even larger on ruby lips as she  
read the letter out loud to herself, "To my dear Elisa, I want to meet with you tomorrow  
night. Our first night out after having our child. I have arranged for a baby-sitter, so do  
not worry. And this is a surprise. Do not mention it to anyone, even me. I will see you  
tomorrow night, at the address written on the back of the envelope. I shall be waiting for  
you..."  
  
****************************************  
  
The next night, the clouds had finally released their burden of frozen rain, and covered  
the city with a blanket of light snow. This blustery night had officially signaled the onset  
of Winter, and the white haze falling from the heavens reinforced it's domination over  
the humans caught in it's icy grip. It was a cold night, a night for those who reveled the  
darkness, who felt safe in the frigid embrace of the year's most unforgiving season.  
  
A mansion of the elder days of old New York, remained alone on a far street, away from  
the bustle of the city, yet it's enfeebled walls still holding back the icy winds. The third  
floor, where a figure studied the dying flakes of snow rampaging against the windows  
and melting away to oblivion. He smiled as the hands on his clock struck the intended  
hour, it was almost time.  
  
Through the endless swirling of the crystalline eddy, he caught sight of a pair of  
headlights breaking through the darkness. A car was approaching, it's bright red paint  
barely visible through the drifts of snow, yet the large figure recognized this particular  
automobile. He watched it pull up to the curb, and a small occupant emerge from the  
driver's side door. The figure melted back into the shadows of the darkened building and  
waited for his visitor.  
  
"This had better be good, Big Guy." Elisa chuffed through her scarf as she ran to the  
protective cover just in front of the large Victorian double doors. She reached for the  
door knob, and not surprisingly, it opened. She stepped through, kicking the snow from  
her boots and shook her head, releasing the luxurious wafts of raven from the clumps of  
snow. She studied her surroundings the best she could, in the unlit void of the manor,  
deserted and emptied out of it's furnishings.  
  
Yet something caught her eye, a flicker to the side directed her gaze to a small cluster of  
candles, forming a trail up the metal cast steps of the spiraled staircase. She slowly  
ascended the stairs, knowing a certain someone was awaiting her presence above.  
  
As she reached the top, the glowing pathway of ignited flame led into a doorway at the  
far end of the hall. She followed and peered within, empty, apart from a single candle  
near a tall window. She quietly crept inside and approached the lone flame, burning  
softly in the emptiness around her. Holding her bare hands to the tiny flicker of light, she  
warmed her skin, and perhaps expected her admirer to show himself at last. And with a  
sudden movement behind her, possibly that time was now. "Goliath? Is that you?"  
  
"Elisa?" her own voice answered back. A winged shadow moved into the pale light, and  
Elisa's eyebrows raised at the sight.  
  
"Delilah?! What are you doing here?"  
  
"I was going to ask you the same thing." the clone answered, moving near her mother.  
  
"I was invited here by Goliath."  
  
"And I was invited here by Shadow."  
  
"And I was invited here by my daughter..." A new player in the conversation replied  
from the direction of the window. The two women turned to see Demona stepping  
through the opened pane. "And now I find the two of you here."  
  
"Demona? What's going on?" Elisa asked, becoming even more confused.  
  
"I believe I can answer that..." From the shadows and just outside the reach of the  
candle's weak dominion, the three females whirled around to locate the source of the low  
baritone rasp.  
  
"Goliath?" Elisa hesitantly asked the shape looming before her.  
  
"No." The room erupted in a flash of light as the entire floor became energized, catching  
the three women in a field of electricity. It coursed through their bodies, engulfing them  
in a pain that spread to every inch of their bones and reached to their very core. They  
plunged to the floor and lost consciousness. The large figure threatened upon the fallen  
protectors' limp forms, and smiled.  
  
****************************************  
  
A veil of ebon dread, thin as a spider's satin web, yet dark enough to cast out all light,  
had covered Elisa as she slept, her unconscious mind trying gravely to force her awake.   
She was locked within her dreams, about Goliath, about her friends, her family, her  
daughters...  
  
"Elisa?" Her own voice called to her, a desperate plea being scattered in the walls of her  
mind. "Elisa?!"  
  
The detective stirred and slowly opened her eyes, and gazed into what she thought was a  
mirror.  
  
"Oh, Elisa," Delilah sighed, finally allowing herself to smile as her mother struggled to  
awaken, "thank god."  
  
Elisa groggily looked around her and noticed vertical steel bars coming into sharp focus  
in front of her. Beside her, she turned to the young clone, staring at her with wide eyes,  
her slender copper hands clamped tight to the bars separating them. They were trapped  
in what seemed to be a massive cage, ensnaring them in a cell of unforgiving iron.   
"Where...where are we?"  
  
"In some kind of jail. We were hit with that charge of electricity and passed out. I woke  
up a few minutes ago to find myself here."  
  
"Where's Demona?" Elisa continued, surprised at her concern for the woman who had  
tried on numerous occasions to take her life.  
  
"RRRRAAAAAUUUUUUGGGHH!!!" The immortal's scream roared through the room  
as she tried to rip the bars from their foundation. Her eyes glowing with an infuriated  
wrath, she wailed away at the steel with her bare claws. "LET ME OUT!!! LET ME  
OOOUUUUTT!!!" Demona stood in the center of her cage and clenched her fists, her  
breath ragged and her entire body trembling with fury.  
  
"It's all right," Delilah faced the gargoyle and tried to reassure her, "we'll get out of  
here."  
  
Demona raced towards the bars and bored into Delilah's large brown eyes with her own  
dark gaze. "Do not presume to tell me how to feel, clone! I will get out of here on my  
own. Without your help."  
  
"Calm down, Demona." Elisa defended her adopted daughter. "She had nothing to do  
with this and doesn't deserve that tone of yours."  
  
"Fine. I am...sorry, Delilah." Demona chuffed as she turned away, and filled her  
attention by studying the room they were in. A large chamber, with the windows painted  
over with black veneer, barely allowing the moonlight to flow through, and thus softly lit.   
The plywood walls were concealed behind a deep red silk fabric, hanging from the walls  
and disguising the wear suffered through age and overuse. She was not impressed,  
especially to be so easily captured and contained. "I swear the one responsible for this  
will pay dearly."  
  
"The only question is, who did this?"  
  
"That would be me." A whisper flowed upon the stale air, emerging from the other side  
of the room. A large chair turned slowly and revealed the occupant.  
  
"Oh my god..." Elisa rasped, her breath trembling with alarm, "Thailog."  
  
Delilah immediately recoiled in absolute terror, scrambling to the back of her cage and  
hiding herself away from Goliath's clone with her wings, mumbling sobbed pleas  
beneath her breath.  
  
"Yes, my dear, sweet detective Maza. It's me." Thailog turned his chair slightly to face  
Demona. "It's good to see you too...nightangel."  
  
His response was met by a scream as Demona lunged at the bars before her in a  
thundering rage. "I WILL GUT YOU FOR THIS, BASTARD!!!"  
  
"I think not." He rose shakily from his seat and grabbed the cane beside him. He limped  
over to the cages and stood in full view of the captured threesome. His dark cerulean  
hide was burned away with large seared patches of dead skin covering more than half of  
his mangled body. His wings hung limply behind his back, utterly useless and the  
remaining membranes dangling in tattered shreds. His eyes of crimson carnage stared at  
the women before him. "I was the one who sent those letters to you, for I needed to bring  
you here...to me."  
  
He watched with amusement as Demona lunged for him through the bars, yet stopped  
short inches away from his neck, unable to reach any further. He moved on to Delilah,  
who was huddling near the back of her cage, encased in the protective cocoon of her  
wings, unwilling to even brave a glimpse at her former master.  
  
Finally, he moved to the last cage, with Elisa locking her gaze with his. "You are as  
beautiful as I remember," he beguiled her in her husband's voice, "no wonder my father  
is smitten with you."  
  
"Why are we here?" Elisa hissed through clenched teeth.  
  
"It's simple, my lady. One of you will have the esteem honor...of becoming my mate."  
  
Elisa stepped back in morbid shock as Demona started to laugh.  
  
"You actually think I would come crawling back to you?" the immortal fumed.  
  
"I have already made my choice. And you are not it." His eyes caught Delilah once  
more. "My...failed experiment. I thought she would be a pinnacle of genetic  
engineering. A perfect being created from two of this planet's most strong and willful  
women, but she failed to meet my standards. She was less than the sum of her parts, as it  
were. She's an abomination, and not fit to even be granted the precious gift of life."  
  
He eventually stepped closer to Elisa's cage, roving his lascivious eyes upon her slender  
frame and swallowing hard, causing a sickening dread to grow in the detective's  
midsection. "You, Elisa Maza, will be my mate. You will be by my side for the rest of  
your life."  
  
Elisa sneered and slowly walked back. "I will never be your mate, you son of a bitch."  
  
"I'm afraid you have no choice." He punched in a sequence of numbers on a small  
keypad on the secluded side of the cell walls. The door to Elisa's cell opened, and  
Thailog stepped in.  
  
Elisa backed to the far wall, her mind racing for a solution. This behemoth coming  
toward her possessed Goliath's strength and speed, but his body had been damaged by the  
fire that she had thought had claimed his life almost four years ago. She let loose a spin  
kick, aiming for his head.  
  
But the clone was prepared, having studied her moves before. He effortlessly caught her  
foot and threw her to the ground. In an instant, Thailog was upon her, pulling a syringe  
from his loincloth. He plunged the needle into her neck and emptied it's yellowish  
contents into her blood system. Elisa felt the world slip away and was engulfed in a hazy  
gray. "This should stifle some of that defiant attitude." he spit into her ear, while picking  
up her motionless form.  
  
Delilah ran to the side of the cage but could do nothing as Thailog walked from her grasp  
with Elisa in his arms.  
  
He hobbled to the far side of the large chamber, and dumped the human on a massive  
bed. She moaned softly and opened her heavy eyes, her vision blurring and distorting her  
view of a hideous gaze, eating into her soul. "...no..." She tried with all her might to  
move but his large hands held her firmly in place.  
  
"You should be happy, Elisa. You have been chosen. I never saw you as a mate until I  
discovered the fact you were able to conceive a child with my father. You will now carry  
my seed within you. You will bare me children, those who will carry on after me when I  
am gone. Nature will succeed where science and cloning have faltered. I can raise our  
children from the moment of their birth, and mold them throughout their childhood,  
extinguishing any rebellious feelings they might have, like that traitorous bitch, Delilah.   
Our children, born from human and gargoyle, will possess the best attributes of both, a  
gargoyle's strength, wings and stamina, yet the human's ability to defy the sun. They  
will serve my needs and heed my very wishes." Thailog peered over his shoulder to the  
cages where Demona and Delilah were being held, staring on with helpless eyes. "Of  
course, I will need to eliminate those two. They may cause problems in the future.   
Delilah can be disposed of easily enough, but Demona will require some thought.   
Perhaps I can use MacBeth and that magical link of theirs. Or, she will just have to rot in  
that cell for the rest of time."  
  
Elisa squirmed underneath him as his thoughts were turned back to the human on the  
bed. He smiled at her defiant attitude, admiring her vigor and stamina, and filling his  
libidinous thoughts with lust. "You will be mine for the rest of your life, Elisa Maza, and  
there's nothing anybody can do about it."  
  
  
To be continued... 


	2. Default Chapter Title

  
  
24 - "Retribution Part 2: Lust"  
Originally Written: April 2nd, 2000  
  
"Elisa? Are you here?" Goliath called for his wife as he entered their room. He had been  
searching for Elisa for some time now, but she was nowhere to be found. From the  
media room to the kitchen to the gym and pool, he had turned up absolutely no trace of  
her. "Where is she?" the lavender giant wondered as he left the bathroom. Her scent still  
lingered through the hallways of the castle, yet only a fading vestige of her enticing  
aroma remained detectable to Goliath's excellent sense of smell, a telltale sign that she  
had left the castle.  
  
Angela had taken Trinity for the night, but refused to tell her father why. He had  
shrugged off his oldest daughter's odd behavior as wanting to spend time with her  
sibling, unaware that she had received her own letter, with detailed instructions to take  
care of her sister until her parents returned.  
  
He wandered to their bed and sat down, the mattress relenting to his bulk as he settled his  
entire weight into the bedspread. 'She must have run out for something,' he thought, 'but  
why didn't she tell anyone, especially me? I wonder where she is?'  
  
****************************************  
  
Elisa's shirt was forcefully ripped from her body, leaving only her bra to cover her  
slender upper torso, left exposed to Thailog's sickening stare. He had stripped Elisa of  
her clothing, leaving her almost nude and her copper skin tremored with the drafts of  
cold air grazing across her. The sedative coursing through her blood had rendered her  
barely able to move and left no chance of fighting back against her attacker.  
  
Thailog hovered over her, his stagnant gasps catching her skin as he moved along every  
curve and contour of her body. He pressed his tongue to her creamy hide, licking up the  
side of her face, with a feeling of sandpaper scraping away at her flesh.  
  
She instinctively retreated from his abhorrent molestation upon her frame and turned her  
gaze away, unwilling to accept in her mind what was happening to her. Her vision,  
blurred with the onset of tears, caught sight of the cages far from her stead.  
  
Delilah bore through the iron bars, a perception which made her sick to her stomach, as  
the dark skinned clone raped her friend, her mother, her very family.  
  
Demona's emotions were flooded with anger and pain at this thing she had at one time  
dared to call love, defiling the very soul of a woman she thought of as an enemy. But  
Elisa meant too much to her daughter, too much to Goliath and the clan, too much  
to...her. This human who almost died at her hands had now embraced her as a friend,  
even allowing her to hold her newborn child. 'No one deserves this, no one,' words of  
passion flowed though her conscious thoughts, 'not even this woman whom I once  
wanted to destroy. This will not happen tonight...or ever.' Demona screamed and flung  
herself at the bars, the entire enclosure rattling with her powerful strikes, pounding away  
on the thick steel.  
  
The clatter behind forced Thailog's attention from Elisa to the cages, and he amusedly  
watched Demona, and Delilah, attempt to break from their prison. "You won't succeed,"  
he gasped, "even Goliath himself couldn't break through those bars." Satisfied of his  
prisoners' futile efforts to free themselves, he turned his eyes to his victim under him.  
  
Elisa was still struggling against his grasp, even with enough drugs in her system to bring  
someone twice her size to his knees. Her limitless willpower fueled her resistance to his  
acidic touch, keeping her alert to the threat of Thailog, and what he would do to her if  
she couldn't fight him off.  
  
In an instant, he was on her again, suckling on her neck and drinking in her breathless  
fragrance with his lips. Elisa gritted her teeth and sealed her eyes from his amoral  
countenance, trying to keep herself from vomiting. Thailog's massive hands, with the  
identifiable grafts of decaying skin, moved up the inside of her thighs, clawing their way  
near where her legs joined. Tears flowed freely down her bronze skin as Elisa sobbed  
relentlessly within her chest, and released the wail of a dying soul.  
  
****************************************  
  
He had remained on the bed for awhile now, concentrating his gaze on the floor. Goliath   
had become anxious, as his wife had not returned. He wouldn't have given it a second  
thought, as Elisa came and went as she pleased. But tonight it felt wrong, the air carried  
an inauspicious emanation which the lavender giant could not deny. Especially when his  
mate disappears from her home without a word.  
  
His eyes never wavered, until he noticed the small garbage can beside Elisa's nightstand,  
with the contents catching his immediate focus. He saw what looked like an envelope,  
and pulled it from the bin. Inside was a letter and his own handwriting leered back at  
him with a spiteful tongue.  
  
He skimmed the letter and growled with animal fury, obviously his wife had been duped,  
and perchance by only one man capable of copying his handwriting to such an eerie  
degree.  
  
Crumpling the letter within his massive hand, turning it to nothing but a wadded pulp of  
paper and ink, he stood up and headed for the private balcony. Flaring his wings to catch  
the wind, he thrust himself into it's grabbing fingers and braved the snow, intent on  
finding his mate.  
  
****************************************  
  
Delilah's hands bruised with dark ebon patches as she thrashed endlessly at the bars. The  
gleaming steel had been coated with her blood, pouring from her knuckles, yet she never  
gave up. She ignored the tortuous pain and continued her bid for freedom.  
  
Demona watched from afar with loathing eyes. This clone before her was so much like  
Elisa, and god willing, so much like her own self. Yet reminded constantly of the pain  
Thailog had brought upon her, when she opened her eyes to her former love's  
replacement for her affections. "You'll never get out that way, clone." she rasped,  
inadvertently coming off angrier than she intended.  
  
"I don't care," she yelled back in a furious reply, "I'm not giving up!! I just can't stand  
by and watch as Thailog rapes Elisa!! She's the only mother I have!"  
  
Demona paused and stared at the courage displayed to her by what she thought to be a  
bashful young woman, somewhat shocked at her outburst, but simply nodded, joining  
with her to endeavor for their friend.  
  
****************************************  
  
"Stop, please..." A hushed cry slipped through Elisa's lips as the last of her strength was  
withering, and her body relenting to Thailog's grasp on her arms.  
  
"Don't worry, my human love," Thailog whispered as he unfastened the belt on his  
loincloth and tugged at Elisa's red panties, "it will all be over soon..."  
  
"...Goliath..." Elisa could barely muffle a whisper as a large hand covered her mouth,  
effectively ceasing anymore pleas for help. Her eyes were forced to his, and in those  
soulless eyes lay a river of blood that chilled her to the bone. "...Goliath..." she muttered  
beneath his hand, "...I love you..."  
  
"ELISAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" The room was filled with a  
bloodcurdling roar, as if the cry of an angry god had erupted from the heavens itself. The  
window near the bed, and the surrounding wall, exploded in a shower of glass and wood,  
as a huge lavender shape barreled through. Goliath had found the building where his  
wife, daughter and ex-mate were being held, using the address that led them here hours  
before, and arrived only to see his clone raping his wife through the dark glass.   
"LET...GO...OF...MY...WIFE!!!!!" he screamed, lunging towards Thailog in a blind rage.  
  
Thailog tried to block the oncoming blow, but it proved to be a futile effort against seven  
hundred pounds of enraged, destructive wrath. Goliath's fists connected square with  
Thailog's jaw, sending the clone flying backwards, off the bed and tumbling across the  
floor in a haggard heap.  
  
Goliath reached for his wife, but she recoiled in fear, eyes wide with dread. The drugs  
had completely confused her senses, transforming the loving form of her husband into the  
very man who had attempted to rape her. Yet Goliath was left with no time to explain as  
Thailog had recovered enough to retaliate. Goliath was knocked back, barely being able  
to stay on his feet. He shook his head and glared at his dark skinned twin.  
  
Thailog was wheezing. His injuries sustained years ago had stripped him of his once  
powerful form, and yet, he stood his ground. "Why do you have to ruin every  
relationship I have?" Thailog gloated, flicking his eyes to where Elisa was laying. "Don't  
worry, 'father', I'll take care of your wife, and your children, or should I say...my  
children."  
  
What fires of hatred burned within him now erupted like an atom bomb, sending Goliath  
over the edge. He tore towards Thailog and rammed his fists against the clone's head  
with enough intensity to spill blood from both his ears and nose, and forcing him to the  
ground. Goliath pummeled upon the clone with all of his might, giving in to the intense  
rage that was building inside of him, and he made no attempt to control himself. His  
hands had become stained with Thailog's blood, incensing his primal instinct for battle,  
and the clone became limp under Goliath's frame. Lavender claws wrapped around  
Thailog's neck, with the intent of choking the very life from his body.  
  
"...Goliath?..."  
  
A soft whimper caught the leader's ears and he turned to see Elisa sitting up on the bed,  
groggily looking around her. He released his hold and quietly ran to her side. But with  
his outstretched hand, she pulled back at the sight of him.  
  
"Stay back, you bastard! Leave me alone!!" She wrapped her arms around herself and  
slumped to the bed, burying her face into the sheets and soaking it with her tears.  
  
"Elisa, it's me, Goliath. Please, you know I wouldn't hurt you...Elisa!" Goliath placed  
his hand on her shoulder, but she reacted like it was ice cold. She jumped away and  
edged her way towards the end of the bed, curling into a fetal position. Goliath reached  
for her again, but paused, for whatever Thailog had done to her, traumatized her enough  
to draw back from his touch. He searched his mind for what to do to help her, but was  
distracted by a loud crash behind him.  
  
The two captive she-goyles had at last burst from their cage, the iron doors crashing to  
the ground as they lept out. Delilah immediately came to Goliath's side and reached  
behind him to Elisa, tending to her mother.  
  
Demona halted herself at Thailog's fallen form, inspecting what damage Goliath had  
wrought firsthand, and became pleased at the anguish he had suffered. "Is he..." she  
asked her ex-mate.  
  
"No, he still lives...barely." Goliath answered solemnly, watching Delilah cradle Elisa's  
body, now unconscious, in her arms.  
  
"And...Elisa?"  
  
"I don't know." Delilah answered. "She's sleeping now, but...she was pumped full of  
some kind of sedative before Thailog tried to...uhm...I think she's okay physically, but  
emotionally..." Delilah gently laid her mother's sleeping form back on the bed and  
joined the others who were gathered around the toppled clone.  
  
"You...are becoming...an annoyance, father," groaned Thailog as he looked up to the  
three pairs of eyes directed at him, "as is the rest of your clan." Two dark fists shot up  
and caught Goliath and Demona, sending them in opposite directions. Demona was hit  
hardest, landing severely against the floor and passing out. Goliath collided with the  
wall, the ancient wood collapsing against his great weight and creating from the power of  
the blow, a massive hole. Delilah rushed to help but was snatched upon her neck by  
Thailog's hand and lifted off her feet. "I could have made my own children with but  
another sample of Elisa's DNA, but I always love that expression on our father's face  
when something bad happens to his little mate. Well, I suppose I should start by erasing  
a mistake I made years ago." he snarled, squeezing her neck with enough pressure to  
break human bone.  
  
"NNNOOOOOOOO!!!!" Goliath howled, forced to watch as his clone crushed the life  
from Delilah's slender form. Attempting to force himself from the entanglement of  
wood, his hand settled upon on a long piece of reebar within the building's structure.   
Dementia reigned over his intelligence and reason, a mad frenzy tearing through his body  
at the sight of another he loved at the mercy of this madman. He grabbed the jagged rod  
and ripped it from the wall, lunging forth towards his quarry.  
  
"Time to die, little one." the dark skinned clone cackled as he tightened his grip and  
Delilah's eyes rolled back in her head, her arms falling limp from Thailog's grasp.  
  
But suddenly, Thailog's smile fell from his lips, as a searing pain ruptured in his torso,  
and a long spear-like object burst through the front of his chest. He dropped Delilah and  
looked to Goliath, who stood behind, hands still upon his weapon. Thailog staggered  
away, clutching the reebar, soaked in his blood. It had pierced what passed for his heart,  
and his own bodily fluids poured from his gaping wound by the gallon. "No...it can't  
happen this way..." Thailog fell to the ground, a slick crimson puddle growing beneath  
him, his body emptying itself of it's vital juices, flowing onto the floor and seeping  
through the cracks in the floorboards.  
  
Demona awakened and gazed at Thailog, lying face up with the reebar standing in the air,  
still dripping with his blood. She smiled an evil smile as he gasped for air through  
shredded lungs. She noticed Goliath checking on Delilah. She was hurt, but able to  
stand and he helped her over to Thailog, as he lay dying before them.  
  
They all had personal reasons to want him dead; betrayal, assault, rape, attempted  
murder, but watching this clone as his very essence slipped from his body, Goliath  
couldn't help but wonder what might have happened if he had been given a real chance.   
Yet the leader didn't deal with what ifs, only what is.  
  
He had ran the steel bar through Thailog's chest in a moment of sheer anger. In that split  
second, he wanted the clone dead. Did protecting his family justify killing someone else?   
He didn't have the answer. All he knew was this gargoyle before him had no conscience,  
no love, no soul. And he was about to prove it to the lavender giant.  
  
"You...think you've...won, don't you..." Thailog gasped as he turned his sights on Goliath  
and Delilah. "But...I will...have the final laugh...I have infected the other clones with...a  
virus that...will unravel their...very DNA. You can't...save them, they...will die...before  
morning's light,...they...will...all...die..." Thailog's eyes burned crimson one last time as  
he died in front of the guardians' eyes. His limp body stiffened and his stone form  
enveloped him, then cracked, shattered, and crumbled to dust.  
  
"Oh no...my brothers..." Delilah looked in morbid fear to Goliath. "Was...was he telling  
the truth?"  
  
"I do not know, Delilah, but we had better get to the labyrinth, and quickly." Goliath  
turned to Demona, whose eyes were transfixed on the dead form of Thailog. "Will you  
accompany us, Demona?"  
  
She was torn from her gaze with a sudden start, and nodded silently.  
  
Delilah ran to the window and scrambled outside. Goliath gingerly wrapped Elisa into  
the blankets adorning the bed and scooped her into his arms, and headed for the window.   
He followed his daughter into the unforgiving wind, heading in the direction of the home  
of the mutates and clones, praying they were not too late.  
  
  
To be continued... 


	3. Default Chapter Title

  
  
25 - "Retribution Part 3: Last Laugh"  
Originally Written: April 4th, 2000  
  
November 22nd, 2000. 1:46 a.m.  
The snow disguised the slick pavement beneath it's frosted layers, but with seven  
hundred pounds of muscle and wings, it was scattered to the wind as Goliath touched  
down. Delilah came to a sudden halt and slipped past him, heading for a large sewer  
grate, with a small painted mark on the curb. The mark of a cat. To any passerby, it  
would almost be invisible, but to the trained eyes of the gargoyles, it symbolized a  
shortcut to the Labyrinth, home of the mutates.  
  
Delilah almost ripped the grate from it's hinges in a desperate attempt to reach her home  
as soon as possible, leaving bloody stains in the snow from her wounded hands. Goliath,  
with an unconscious Elisa still cradled in his arms, and Demona, followed behind, barely  
keeping up to the clone as she dashed wildly through the endless tunnels. They came  
upon a pair of large doors, hidden by a false exterior, blending flawlessly with the grime  
covered walls of Manhattan's sewer systems. Delilah punched in her private code on an  
ambiguous keypad camouflaged within the shadows and the doors silently slid open.  
  
Delilah ran into the front room of the Labyrinth, but found no one to greet her. "Where  
are they?" she cried frantically.  
  
"They're in the medical chamber, Delilah..." Sharon emerged from the darkness of a  
doorway leading from their collective sight and languidly approached the young clone.   
Her once crystal feline eyes were bloodshot, marked with the telltale signs of her having  
been crying. "Maybe...you should go see them." Delilah immediately shoved past her  
and left the dark furred mutate to look with surprise at the other visitors, especially  
eyeing the limp form of Elisa buried beneath the blanket. "Goliath, what happened?"  
  
"Thailog tried to...rape Elisa..." he answered solemnly, with Sharon gasping in shock.   
"He almost succeeded until I was forced to...kill him. She was drugged and is sleeping."   
He lifted his gaze to the mutate, and just now noticed her emotionally weathered features  
due to his own focus on his wife, raising his brow ridges in a foreboding cast. "The  
clones...are they?..."  
  
Sharon sighed her troubled response, "They...we think they may be dying. They all  
collapsed earlier tonight, and now are almost comatose in the med-bay. Dr. Goldblum is  
doing everything he can." She rubbed her eyes and reached a hand across her brow. "I  
wish we knew what was wrong..."  
  
"This is Thailog's doing." Goliath spewed out with malcontent. "He infected them with  
something he said will kill them within twenty-four hours. Sharon, perhaps you should  
call Dr. Pierce. He has become somewhat of an expert on gargoyle physiology." He  
moved towards the arch, yet stopped and turned to Demona, who had remained where  
she stood with almost what could be called a troubled twitch and a compulsive rubbing  
of her hands, effectively relaying her uneasiness in being in this place. "Come," he  
called to her, loud enough to snare her attention, "we must go check on the clones, all of  
us."  
  
She hesitated, yet soon quickly came upon his side, following him into the darkness.  
  
****************************************  
  
The former mates entered into the medical bay and found a flurry of activity in advance  
of their forms. The other mutates were at the sides of four different beds, each holding a  
still gargoyle figure within the white medical sheets. Delilah had placed herself over her  
fallen brothers, skipping from clone to clone in a futile attempt to appease their growing  
fears.  
  
As the lavender giant penetrated further into the rabble, Talon whirled around only to see  
his sister motionless in Goliath's arms. "What's wrong with Elisa?!" he howled with an  
inadvertent anger, his emotions having stretched to their very limits, and unknowingly  
causing Maggie and Claw to turn and see the panther mutate run to his brother-in-law  
and inspect Elisa's sleeping frame with due caution.  
  
"She was assaulted by Thailog. He's also responsible for the clones' conditions."  
  
"What?!!" Talon looked back at the ailing clones and cursed under his breath. "Do you  
know anything else? Something that may help them?"  
  
"No." he replied apathetically, choosing an empty bed near the far wall to gently lay  
Elisa down and immerse her in the sheets and blanket. With a delicate touch of his  
talons through her lush, raven hair and a trembled sigh, he perched his bulk beside her  
and watched intently for any movement. Yet none did he perceive with unwavering eyes,  
except for her paced breathing, her body sleeping off the toxin flowing through her. "I  
am sorry, my Elisa..." he released his lament to the air, and fought back the urge to set  
free his consuming anger.  
  
Maggie came upon Goliath's flank as the lavender giant's muscular body crumpled into a  
chair at his mate's side. "Is Elisa going to be okay?"  
  
"I think the sedative will wear off. But...she..." He choked back his angered words,  
leaving Maggie to read his pain evident in a creased brow and grimace left on his lips.  
  
"Goliath," the lioness leaned in closer to better see his torn expression, "what really  
happened?"  
  
"Thailog...assaulted her...raped her."  
  
"Oh god." Maggie was taken aback as Claw and Talon looked up at Goliath's simple  
statement. "Did he..."  
  
"No, I interrupted him before he could go too far. But she was still...she..."  
  
Maggie pressed her hand to the gargoyle's cheek, forcing him to stop. "Let her sleep,  
Goliath," she said, trying to alleviate her brother-in-law's torment, "we can help her, and  
will very soon. Right now, the clones need our immediate attention."  
  
Goliath never looked back at her, but nodded his consent.  
  
Far from all gathered in the room, Demona remained near the wall, watching with her  
dark eyes as the others cared for their friends. Creatures she and Thailog had created for  
a loathsome purpose, to replace her lost family and perhaps ease in her pain, but had  
quickly condemned as abominations when betrayed by her lover.  
  
She focused in on Delilah, huddled over Brentwood, and clutching gravely to his hand,  
unwilling to release her brother to the talons of death. Demona felt a chill surge through  
her, experiencing something not felt for a thousand years, regret. Regret in not choosing  
to embrace this fragile being, created from her blood and soul, and striving to claw her  
way through this world. She felt for her. She knew what losing someone close to her felt  
like, and wouldn't wish it on her worst enemy.  
  
****************************************  
  
The Wyvern clan had gathered in the Labyrinth, with Dr. Pierce in hand to offer his  
assistance. With Goliath unwilling to speak and having moved his wife to a private  
room, far from prying eyes, Demona handled the task of divulging what atrocities had  
occurred within the last couple of hours.  
  
Pierce and Goldblum were using years of medical experience to endeavor forth to save  
four young lives. They had identified the ailment as a powerful genetic virus, that  
coursed through every inch of their bloodstream and devoured their bodies at an alarming  
rate. This pathogen was like nothing they had ever seen before, acting as if created to  
attack only the clones' specific DNA.  
  
"God, what the hell is it?" Alan Pierce mumbled as he studied the virus' genetic makeup,  
magnified over a million times on the powerful Labyrinth computers.  
  
"I have no idea," Dr. Goldblum replied to his colleague, "I've never seen anything like  
this before. It's consuming every cell in every part of the body...and all at the same  
frightening velocity. It shows no signs of stopping." He looked back to the bedridden  
clones, with various clan members and mutates hovering over them, and Delilah never  
leaving their side for an instant. "I wonder how Thailog did this?"  
  
"I believe I know how..." The two doctors whirled around, only to come face to face  
with Demona. "Cyber mosquitoes," she continued without skipping a beat, "tiny robots,  
the size and shape of the insect of it's design, who carry the toxin within them. They  
inject the poison and the victim thinks they've been bitten by an ordinary mosquito. It's  
the same way we used to take the clan's DNA to create the clones. I have confirmed this  
by finding minuscule puncture marks on the back of their necks."  
  
"Damn," Dr. Pierce huffed, "do you have any knowledge of this virus?"  
  
"Regrettably no. Thailog was involved with most of the cloning process. He could have  
created the virus as a...fail-safe." Demona snapped away, old memories flooding to the  
surface and clouding rational judgment, invoking the fires of rage within her and feeding  
her all too consuming desire for revenge. But to strike back at someone who has already  
died, is a hollow pursuit indeed.  
  
****************************************  
  
Goliath marveled at his wife's slender hand, with nothing to mark it's smooth extent of  
copper satin, apart from her glowing wedding ring. A symbol of promise and hope, now  
shattered like the prisms of light being cast back by the diamond inset. He stared with  
wonder and admiration at her slender fingers, entwining them between his own, so small,  
so delicate, so fragile.  
  
He trailed the length of her arm with his retrospective gaze to her sleeping form. She  
looked so peaceful, just as though nothing had ever happened. She moved slightly and  
curled into a ball, pulling the covers further over her to cease her shivering, perchance  
plagued by a nightmare. He wanted so desperately to hold her, to embrace her, to keep  
her safe from the ills of the world, but was afraid he would only scare her again.  
  
He reluctantly abandoned her side, leaving her to sleep off the lasting remnants of the  
drug, and quietly exited the room. He dragged past the med bay door, and forced himself  
to peer within. Through the endless masses of gargoyles and mutates, his stare bored  
through, only to fall onto Delilah, collapsed in a chair near her brothers. She was fixed  
upon a far stead on the opposing wall, seemingly oblivious to the others around her.  
  
To console his tormented daughter was his first basic instinct, but he could not gather the  
courage and held himself back. He could not face anymore of Thailog's chilling legacy,  
for even from beyond the grave, that lunatic had captured four innocent beings in his  
spiteful grip. Goliath continued on and headed into the darkness, intent on eluding his  
own devastating guilt.  
  
****************************************  
  
Delilah had removed herself from the beds and drooped into her oversized chair on the  
far wall, dwarfing her frame. Her damaged hands had been thoroughly bandaged, and  
even through the thick fabric, her blood still seeped, creating large crimson patches. Her  
glassy eyes betrayed her true feelings, besieged by a desiccating pain in her chest and  
stomach, experiencing only what those close to death could ever feel. Her eyes flicked to  
the doctors still converged about their computers, and she had learned enough about  
medicine to know they were running out of options. She knew they couldn't do anything,  
she knew her brothers might die this very night.  
  
From an indistinct locale, beyond the crowds and within the eclipse of any light, stood  
Shadow, his stare locked onto the young clone on the other side of the room. He shared  
her anguished emotions, as he was forced to watch as his grandfather withered away in  
front of his very eyes. And now, those events of years past were being paralleled to a  
fearful degree underneath the streets of Manhattan.  
  
He had remained distant from her, unsure if she would welcome his comforting gesture.   
His thoughts constantly drifted back to a conversation held with her after Elisa's baby  
shower, and how he had hurt her feelings more than he could possibly ever imagine...  
  
Castle Wyvern, October 31st, three weeks ago...  
"I think...we need to talk, Delilah." Shadow's voice echoed on the Autumn winds. The  
dark warrior had led the young clone outside to the battlements, intending to discuss his  
own feelings with her.  
  
Delilah smiled with anticipation, hoping her desires could at last be fulfilled tonight.   
"Talk about what?" she replied quietly, cursing within her mind for acting so demurely in  
his powerful presence.  
  
"About your feelings...for me."  
  
"Oh." She blushed slightly and looked down. "How...how did you find out?"  
  
"Goliath unintentionally let it slip, and I pressed him to tell me. He said you have had  
romantic feelings for me ever since we met."  
  
She controlled her breathing and unconsciously twisted her ivory tress within her fingers.   
"Well...it's true. I guess I was afraid to tell you."  
  
"I know. You, and I for that matter, are not very experienced in concerns like these."   
Shadow lifted her head to meet her chocolate eyes, and she was held in place within his  
mahogany gaze. "But I must tell you how I feel. And I am afraid...you might take this  
the wrong way."  
  
Delilah slowly lost her beaming smile, her lip trembling at what words she had so feared  
from hearing.  
  
"I...don't return your feelings, Delilah. You are a good friend, but love..." He paused in  
mid-sentence as Delilah looked away and forcefully tore from his grip. "Please...don't be  
sad..."  
  
"Don't be sad?" Delilah repeated his words coldly. "This isn't a simple crush. I'm...I'm  
in love with you." She whirled around to the stunned warrior, now finally realizing the  
extent of her feelings. "And now you say you just want to be friends..."  
  
Shadow gasped for a cleansing breath and calmed himself, as the last thing he wanted  
was to hurt her even more. "You are a true friend, and I value your company, but love is  
something that grows over time, between two people who truly care for each other. I do  
care for you, but I don't love you..."  
  
Delilah lingered silently for a long time, an eternal awkward pause. She was on the verge  
of tears as her worst fear had been realized. Rejection.  
  
"Please say something..." Shadow pleaded to the young girl, reaching out to her.   
"Delilah..."  
  
The young clone never said a word as she slowly walked away, and headed in the  
direction of the archway. She slumped against the side and wavered before ultimately  
disappearing, leaving a disheartening trail of tears and her fading cries.  
  
Shadow sighed and held his hands to his face. "I am sorry, my friend, but I care for you  
too much...to lie to you..."  
  
The Labyrinth, the present...  
Shadow opened his eyes and the swirl of colors and moving shapes forced him back to  
the present. His own feelings were twisted and confused, for here in front of him, was a  
beautiful, innocent woman, who was being torn apart from the inside. Perhaps his words  
three weeks ago were ill chosen, as he now just wanted to be there with her, to help her  
through this trauma, but he wasn't sure how.  
  
"We got a flatline!!" The calm atmosphere erupted with a frantic screaming as the  
doctors raced to Malibu's side. His heart had stopped beating. Dr. Pierce charged the  
paddles of the defibrillator and pressed them to Malibu's chest. "Everybody clear!!..."   
The clone's body jerked with a contorted spasm as thousands of volts of electricity  
coursed through him. "Nothing!!" He tried again, and this time, the machine pounded  
with a slight ping, showing a weak but steady heartbeat, the rhythm of life.  
  
"That was close..." Pierce rasped as he wiped his brow and turned to Talon. "I think you  
had better get everyone in here, Derek. I don't think they have much time left."  
  
Talon grimly nodded and swiftly left to gather the others who had departed from the  
medical bay.  
  
Delilah fell further into her chair and began to cry, with Shadow still watching from afar  
with dishonored eyes as she pulled her wings over her to cover her shaking body.  
  
****************************************  
  
A silent lament had enshrouded the small room of Elisa, turning in her sleep and  
instinctively pulling the covers closer to her body. The drug had almost run it's course  
and the haze had lifted from her consciousness. Like the sky appearing from the seizure  
of the clouds after a rainstorm, Elisa slowly awakened to the soft light of the lamps  
burning beside her.  
  
With a sudden start, she cringed and sat up, slamming violently against the headboard  
with the sheets clenched to her chest, and frantically scanning the room. Her fractured  
memories had drifted back in full force and she teetered on the edge of hyperventilation,  
breathing heavily with a panicked terror.  
  
"Don't worry, Elisa," an azure skinned gargoyle appeared in the doorway, reassuring the  
human in a low voice, "Thailog isn't here. You're safe, in the Labyrinth."  
  
Elisa settled slightly and placed a hand to her chest, and noticed her attire had been  
removed, save for her undergarments. "Oh god, was I...did he?!" she asked the immortal  
in a fearful voice.  
  
"No," Demona answered back, sitting beside her, "he was stopped in time, by..."  
  
"Goliath!" she yelled, her fractured recollections still piecing together the past night and  
now centering on Goliath's nick of time salvation of her very body. "Goliath? Where is  
he?"  
  
"I...don't know. He hasn't been seen for a while. The others have been busy  
with...another matter."  
  
"What's going on?" Elisa asked.  
  
"Thailog injected the clones with some kind of virus. They're dying, and don't have a lot  
of time left."  
  
"Jesus Christ," Elisa groaned, "and Delilah?"  
  
"Unaffected, but she is being forced to watch as her brothers lay dying in their beds."  
  
Elisa slowly rose from the bed, snatching the blanket from the bed and covering herself  
up. "I want to see her."  
  
Demona looked in awe of the human, now moving away from her. "Are...are you sure?   
You've been through quite an ordeal." she tried to convince her.  
  
"You're right, but I'll deal with that later, right now, I'm going to see my daughter."   
Elisa left the room, leaving Demona to follow behind, and admire the detective's  
strength.  
  
****************************************  
  
"There's nothing else we can do, except to keep them all as comfortable as possible." Dr.  
Pierce whispered to the mutates and Wyvern clan. "It's just...a matter of time." He tried  
to keep his words discreet, but with her sensitive hearing, Delilah picked up every word.  
  
Maggie kneeled beside her and rubbed a hand about her shoulder. "Can I do anything?"  
she inquired, hoping Delilah would at least react to her.  
  
"No," she coldly responded, "please leave me alone."  
  
"All right. If you need me, just call." Maggie left the clone with her privacy and  
rejoined the others where they had gathered. "I don't know how to help her. She pushes  
me away at every turn."  
  
"Then," Elisa emerged through the crowd, "maybe I should try."  
  
"Elisa?! Are you okay?" Talon asked his older sister. "Are you sure you're up to this?"  
  
"Don't coddle me, Derek. My daughter needs me." Elisa padded slowly to Delilah's  
chair, and placed herself directly in front, lifting her hands to gracefully cup the clone's  
flushed, wet cheeks. "Hey, kiddo, are you doing all right?"  
  
"Elisa?!" Delilah looked up to see her adoptive mother. "You're awake. Are you  
feeling well?"  
  
"That's supposed to be my question."  
  
The tears flowed once more at Elisa's remark. "They're dying, and no one can do a  
thing." Delilah lowered her head into Elisa's awaiting shoulder and began to cry, her  
tears traveling her face and pooling on the blanket around her mother's shoulders. "Not a  
thing..."  
  
"I'm so sorry."  
  
"I don't know if I can live without them. They're my brothers, my family."  
  
"I know, I know. But I'll always be here for you. So will the mutates and the clan. We  
all love you very much and will help you through this, I promise." Mother and daughter  
held one another for an endless time, Elisa's own astonishing endurance helping to  
soothe some of the tremendous pain, until a hand came down on her shoulder.  
  
It was Dr. Pierce. "Uhm...I think you'd...you'd better say your good-byes, Delilah," he  
replied in a stuttered response, "they...they don't..." He stopped at Delilah's forlorn  
expression, and knew he didn't need to finish.  
  
Delilah knew exactly what words he struggled to place forth, quite evident by his  
sorrowful features. She broke from Elisa's embrace and slowly walked to her brother's  
beds. The others stayed to the side of the room, watching the young clone say her final  
good-byes.  
  
****************************************  
  
Lavender hide blended into the shadows offered by the windowless library, a striking  
fusion of the muted colors at the lower end of the spectrum, swallowed by the void.   
Goliath had fallen to the floor, leaning against the couch and staring upon endless rows  
of books lining the cement bunker walls. Time had slowed to a virtual unknown, and he  
didn't know for how many hours he had been here, and frankly, didn't care. His thoughts  
rested on one person and one person alone, his wife.  
  
He let loose his weary head, falling limp and his gaze immediately focusing on the  
salvaged carpet, cleaned and placed to cover the bare floors of concrete. His powerful  
hearing would eventually pick up a light gait and a pair of cerulean legs wandered into  
his field of view.  
  
"I've finally found you." Demona whispered to the lavender giant.  
  
"Demona." Goliath greeted her through closed lips.  
  
"What are you doing in here?" she asked, taking a seat in the chair beside him.  
  
"I...don't know. Thinking, I suppose...and the clones? How do they fare?"  
  
"They all...have died." Demona replied, studying Goliath's expression as it disfigured  
from shock to grief. "About fifteen minutes ago."  
  
"No..." He clenched his fists and gritted his fanged teeth, his eyes glowing white with  
fury. "They didn't deserve this..."  
  
"Delilah hasn't stopped crying. She needs you...she needs her father."  
  
"I...I can't..."  
  
"Elisa is with her."  
  
"Elisa?!!" Goliath yielded his anger and stared into Demona's dark eyes. "She has  
awakened?"  
  
"They both need you."  
  
"I...can't face her...can't face them. I...was responsible for her attack."   
  
Demona shook her head in irritation and formed a scowl. "You selfish bastard..." she  
spit at him.  
  
"I beg your pardon?"  
  
"How dare you hide yourself away just because of some misplaced guilt that is not even  
yours to claim."  
  
"I am to blame!" he screamed back. "It is my fault, I failed to protect them both."  
  
"There was nothing you could have done. Nothing. You are the leader of this clan, and  
yet you run and cower from your responsibilities like a frightened hatchling."  
  
"How can Elisa be safe?! How can I keep her safe, if madmen like Thailog are out there,  
scheming to destroy her life or plotting her very death."  
  
"Love is more powerful than you could imagine, and I know Elisa loves you more than  
anything. Anything. She is conceivably one of the strongest willed women on this  
planet, and she would do anything to protect what she has built with you. She considers  
you her guardian angel, and tonight you have proved it to her once again. You rescued  
your wife from Thailog's clutches and saved your daughter's life...and perhaps even  
mine. You prevented Thailog from killing Delilah and stopped him before he could rape  
Elisa. If you hadn't gotten there sooner, who knows what could have happened."  
  
"It shouldn't have happened at all."  
  
"True. It was a close call, but..."  
  
"THERE ARE TOO MANY CLOSE CALLS!!!" Goliath howled with animal rage, rising  
to his feet and glaring at Demona, his impressive stature even intimidating her. "Ever  
since she met me, Elisa has been forced to deal with people who disapprove of her, look  
down on her, treat her like the enemy and even try to kill her! You know that best of all.   
She doesn't deserve any of it!!"  
  
"No...she doesn't," Demona relented, "but she has fought and won against immeasurable  
odds. She has found a love in you she would gladly place her life on the line for."  
  
"She shouldn't have to..." Goliath dropped harshly into the couch, it's structure barely  
containing his weight, and shut his eyes to the world. "She deserves better. Much  
better." His noble facade became stained with his tears, his carefully harnessed emotions  
pouring forth, on full display to whomever was near. "She deserves an existence devoid  
of threats to her very life, and full of happiness...and love."  
  
"But that's what I have." Both Goliath and Demona looked up to see Elisa standing  
behind them. "That's what you have given me."  
  
"Elisa." Goliath whispered, filling his range of vision with her wondrous beauty, coming  
towards him only to place her hands on his massive chest. "I..."  
  
"Shhhh." She placed a finger to his lips, and silenced his forthcoming apology. "Don't  
ever apologize for something you had absolutely no control over. Ever since I met you, I  
have lived a full life of adventure, friendship, and love. I never imagined I could ever  
love someone like you. I would gladly die for you."  
  
"But you shouldn't have to forced to forever be looking over your shoulder."  
  
"No one said our relationship was going to be easy. We're the first interspecies couple in  
the history of our planet. We have to be strong, or all gargoyles will never have lives of  
freedom to cherish and savor, and our children will forever be looked upon as monsters  
by those who don't understand."  
  
"But Thailog, he tried to..."  
  
"He tried, and failed. Thanks to you." She leaned forward and placed her head against  
his chest, listening to his potent heartbeat through the sculpted skin. "And if he should  
try again..."  
  
"He won't, Elisa. He is dead."  
  
Elisa pulled back with a jerk, forcing her eyes to his, surprised at her husband's  
revelation.  
  
Goliath pressed her close, fearing she would condemn his actions. "I had no choice," he  
pleaded for her forgiveness, "he would have killed Delilah. I was angry. So angry at  
what he had done to you."  
  
"I would be lying if I said I'm not happy about his death, he'll never hurt anyone again.   
Except for four of our friends, and our adopted daughter."  
  
"Delilah..."  
  
"She's all alone now."  
  
"I'm sorry I wasn't there."  
  
"You can make it up to her. Come on." She grabbed his hand and led him from the  
room. She motioned to Demona to follow them, and the trio headed to the medical bay.  
  
****************************************  
  
A tomb, as if buried beneath the pyramids of Egypt, where no living soul would dare risk  
intrusion upon the dead. The hospital contained within the Labyrinth now served a new  
purpose, that of a morgue. Four beds, each with a still form covered by the white sheet.   
Barely a light was left alit, and every few minutes would flicker, casting what looked like  
lightning to streak across the walls. The room had emptied of it's occupants, except for  
one. Delilah. Still in her chair, and within the cocoon of her wings, muffling her  
haunted cries.  
  
Elisa had stopped in place, and gazed upon the quivering form of her daughter, then  
shifted to her husband.  
  
He nodded to her silent consensus and lay perhaps the most gentle of kisses to her  
forehead, savoring her natural perfume, left her side and approached his daughter.   
"Delilah?"  
  
The young clone uncovered herself, wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at the  
sound of his deep baritone with grieving eyes. "...goliath?..." she squeaked, sounding so  
small, as if a wraith fading from this world.  
  
"I'm sorry." He bent down and offered his hand. "I'm sorry I was not here for you."  
  
The young girl shakily reached out and placed her copper colored hand in his massive  
palm.  
  
Immediately, Goliath pulled her into his embrace, and closed his wings around them  
both. He picked her off the floor and placed himself in the chair, cradling her close. "I  
am so very sorry, my daughter."  
  
"...they're all dead..." she whispered through her sobbing.  
  
"I know. But you will get through this. I will help you."  
  
"...how?..."  
  
"It will take time, and the help of your friends." he answered. "You can take solace in  
the fact that they are in a place where they feel no pain, no remorse, no despair. Like my  
clan from a thousand years past, they are all watching over me and my family, over you,  
helping to guide us through our lives."  
  
"Does it ever stop hurting?" she asked with a rasped voice, clinging to his mighty form  
with all of her strength.  
  
Goliath sighed, unsure of what to tell her, but believed his honesty would help. "No. But  
you will learn to deal with it as best you can, with your family by your side."  
  
"Thank you...father."  
  
Through all of tonight, through the attack and the death, Elisa managed a smile, watching  
her husband magically drain the anguish from Delilah's body, and give her back what she  
thought she may have lost forever, her hope. Yet from the corner of her eye, the archway  
spilled forth another winged creature, as she caught sight of Shadow emerging from the  
hallway.  
  
He came to an abrupt stop, seeing Delilah in Goliath's arms. His brow furrowed and his  
wings became limp, as he looked to the floor. A pained expression hit hard onto his  
features, as if he expected Delilah to still be alone, and perhaps waiting just for him.  
  
"She needs you too." Elisa told the dark warrior.  
  
Shadow never moved, instead only clicked his eyes to Elisa. "I thought I could...no, I  
have already hurt her feelings. She has gone through enough this night without having to  
deal with our...situation."  
  
"She still cares for you," said Elisa, forming a small frown, "even after what you told  
her."  
  
"Elisa-chan, I only told her the truth."  
  
"I know, it's okay. In time she'll get over it, and her crush."  
  
"That's the problem. I'm not sure I want her to get over it." He took one last look at  
Elisa and quietly left the room.  
  
****************************************  
  
The morning had finally come, and washed away what pain this night had wrought. A  
new day dawned for the residents of Manhattan, a fresh renewal and a chance to start  
once more in the everlasting tempo of moon's glow and sun's fire. But for a certain  
family, it loomed as a reminder to those they had so recently lost, and the start of their  
lives without four very special beings. Innocent gargoyles who had done nothing to  
encur the wrath of Thailog except to try to live a life away from his control.  
  
The Wyvern clan had stayed at the Labyrinth, turning to stone in the large front room.   
Demona had returned home, after being sure to offer her condolences and say her  
good-byes to Delilah just before the night was finished. The doctors had left as well,  
having experienced the worst thing to ever happen to those who care for the sick and  
injured, losing a patient. And the mutates would suffer a restless sleep indeed, as the  
clones had become a part of their family, and their death stole a piece from every  
member of the Labyrinth residents.  
  
The only movement in the entire complex came from Elisa. She had been torn from her  
sleep in the middle of the day, unable to fall back asleep. She had called Fox on the  
phone to relay the events of the night just hours earlier and to check in on Trinity. But  
her thoughts continuously drifted back to the clones and Delilah, and Thailog, and  
Goliath, and Shadow. A clone of her husband who tried to rape her and ended up killing  
her adoptive daughter's brothers. The gargoyle her daughter loves is unsure whether or  
not he returns her feelings as well. In a fit of rage and to save his daughter's life, Goliath  
was forced to kill Thailog. In a twisted soap-opera come to life, all of them tonight had  
faced a pain unlike any could ever experience.  
  
She felt a tear running down her face. A tear of sadness, a tear of pain. She quickly  
wiped it away, unwilling to face anymore. 'No,' she thought, 'I won't let him beat me. I  
won't let him win again.'  
  
She dragged her hands over the stone form of Goliath, who had stayed by her side when  
the sun rose, moving her gentle touch across his brow and down his handsome face. "I  
won't let him win again. Together, we will get through this and together we'll be there  
for Delilah. You are my protector, Big Guy, and I wouldn't have it any other way."  
  
  
To be concluded... 


	4. Default Chapter Title

  
  
26 - "Retribution Part 4: Loss and Love"  
Originally Written: April 5th, 2000  
  
November 29th, 2000  
Life had moved on swiftly for the rest of the world, and only a week had passed for those  
in the daily grudge of the working dominion, for those who dwell in the sunlight, and for  
those who's family is still there to greet them when they return home. But for one person  
in particular, it was the longest week of her young life, spent grieving for her departed  
brothers.  
  
Brentwood, Malibu, Hollywood, and Burbank, the clones were laid to rest in a private  
cemetery, a lush forested area near Xanatos' secluded villa in the outskirts of town, and  
every friend of the clan attended the service under the sympathetic radiance of a full  
moon. Several members came forward to share with the others, special times they had  
with the clones and how they would never forget them.  
  
Yet Delilah remained a far cry from her exuberant self, keeping silent throughout the  
entire funeral and never gaining enough strength to come forward. She now had become  
a recluse, often retreating to her bedroom for extended periods, taking long solo patrols,  
or spending her time buried in the castle's library. Her diet had slowed to inadequate  
late-night snacks and her dialogue was limited solely to Goliath, Elisa, and Maggie.  
  
The weather had not relented it's attack on the city, with heavy snowfalls it's most  
powerful implements of war, thundering down upon the populace each and every night.   
The temperature had dropped to the point where even the gargoyles were uncomfortable  
in the cold. Though the longer nights afforded them more freedom, they still had to fight  
their way through the tempest of snow and ice, making for a truly hazardous flight.  
  
A single crystal flake, joined in unison with billions upon billions of none alike to cover  
what lay of Scottish stones looking above the world's grand vista. An assemblage of  
shadows skimmed over the parapets, and came to a rapid stop in a swirl of snow. The  
first patrol of the night had returned to their home. Brooklyn, with Sata, Annika, and  
Shadow, landed softly and quickly made their way to the archway leading inside.  
  
"By the gods, it is absolutely freezing out there." Sata mumbled as she slammed shut the  
heavy wooden gate and shook the snow from her wings. "How do humans manage each  
and every day?"  
  
"They have clothes. And scarves. And toques. And gloves. And heaters in their cars..."  
Annika grumbled mockingly as she rose her hands to a heating vent and attempted to  
return the bloodflow to her taloned fingers. "You should see Todd when he comes over,  
he's bundled up like a nine year old. He looks so cute."  
  
The three gargoyles shared a quiet laugh, but were rudely interrupted by an immense  
mass of dark grayish-purple skin moving silently between them. Shadow solemnly  
continued his way down the hall without breaking his stride, and turned a corner,  
effectively vanishing from their eyes. Ever since the death of the clones, he had been  
even more withdrawn than usual, barely releasing himself from his chambers only to  
patrol, and the entire clan knew why. Delilah had purposely distanced herself from him,  
and he was unsure of how to continue with their friendship.  
  
"Do you think he'll ever get out of this funk?" Annika sighed.  
  
"Not until Delilah's feeling better." Brooklyn answered, staring into the swallowed  
shadows of the hallway's perpetual reach.  
  
"And that may be a very long time." Sata placed her arm around her mate's waist as they  
headed to the kitchen, leaving Annika to follow behind and sigh once again.  
  
****************************************  
  
"Does Trini like that? Does she?" Elisa pleasantly chirped to her daughter, nuzzling her  
lips against Trinity's stomach and watching with absolute pleasure as the small child  
laughed in a delightful shriek. She was almost a month old now and beginning to express  
her emerging emotions more and more frequently. Elisa had used her daughter as a form  
of therapy, after her ordeal with Thailog, as spending just a few moments with the tiny  
child would do wonders for her wounded spirit. She caught one of her daughter's toes,  
invoking a slight giggle from the diminutive half gargoyle.  
  
Lost in her daughter's world, Elisa would never notice a mammoth specter creeping  
behind her along the carpet and walls, growing in intensity and empowered by the bright  
light of her single burning lamp. Two massive hands reached on either side and with  
even the lightest touch to Elisa's shoulders, she jumped and gasped. Instinctively  
grabbing Trinity from the changing table, Elisa whirled around, only to stare into  
Goliath's face. "Goliath?!! Oh god..."  
  
"I'm sorry!!" he cried apologetically. "I didn't mean to...I..." The lavender giant pulled  
his arms from his mate's frame and looked away to the window.  
  
"Goliath, it's all right," Elisa whispered her consolation and moved closer to her  
husband, cradling her baby in her arms, "you just startled me, that's all."  
  
"No, it's not. I shouldn't have prowled behind your back like a common cat. You are  
still healing from your assault."  
  
"I told you, I'm fine." Elisa argued, attempting desperately to alleviate his fears of her  
fragility. "Thailog is dead, and I know he'll never hurt me again. Don't let his ghost  
haunt you too, Big Guy."  
  
Once again, Elisa's measureless resolve had lightened his dispirited mood and forced his  
brooding lips into a smile. He received Trinity from her mother's arms, and held her  
close to his chest.  
  
The small baby cooed, showing her merriment of being held by her father with a flitter of  
her wings, and reached out to grab the long sable locks falling around Goliath's  
shoulders. She caught a handful of hair in her tiny fist and smiled, marveling at the  
rough but silky substance flowing between her fingers.  
  
"Have you talked to Delilah lately?" Elisa broke the mood as Goliath's attention was  
severed from his daughter.  
  
"I've...exchanged words with her, but she doesn't feel like talking about her feelings, or  
even speaking at all, for that matter."  
  
"I don't blame her."  
  
"Nor do I. She has lost most of her family. I felt the same way after we were awakened  
six years ago. The death of my clan still weighed heavily on my heart." Goliath's hand  
found it's way to the subtle bronze of his wife's skin, his talons gracing against her  
cheek, reaffirming their unique bond with his subtle contact. "But I had the clan, and  
you, there with me."  
  
"Yeah." Elisa wrapped around his massive arm and spied upon her daughter, yawning  
deeply in her father's embrace and drifting off to sleep. "I'm getting concerned. She's  
shutting herself away from the rest of the clan, and the world, especially Shadow."  
  
"She doesn't need that aggravation right now. She needs to concentrate on healing, on  
dealing with the death of her brothers."  
  
"She also needs someone to love, like the rest of us. She had such a crush on him, and  
now, it's like he's become a stranger to her."  
  
"Perhaps in time," Goliath started with an allusion of sorrow, "they will find each other."   
He moved to the nursery doors and slid them from his path, entering Trinity's corner  
domain of the castle. The entire bay window was filled with Earth's only satellite,  
millions of years of cosmic bombardment etching it's barren surface, and revealing it's  
archaic pain to the inhabitants above the clouds. He laid Trinity into her crib and pulled  
the blanket over her, watching the baby wrap herself with her wings and cuddle deeper  
into the quilts, finding solace and peace in the folds of cotton.  
  
****************************************  
  
A granite stare penetrated through the darkened library, eyes honed of ancient skills and  
heightened instincts, bringing every shelf, book and piece of furniture of the circular  
room into sharp focus. His skin of raven violet would barely distinguish him from the  
surroundings, if not for the tattoos on his chest, a bright orange incandescence giving  
away his true identity.  
  
Shadow traveled silently through the room, searching for a particular book and hoping to  
take his mind off the last week's events, his thoughts ever settling on lost souls departed  
from this world, and the one young woman now left seemingly alone. He ran his talons  
over the worn texts and discovered the book he had started weeks ago. He pulled it from  
the shelf and admired the cover, scrawled with Japanese text. Satisfied of his choice, he  
made his way to the exit, his eyes still trained on the decorative sheath with golden  
hilights.  
  
He never sensed, or even heeded, another form walking towards him in the dark. They  
collided and Shadow dropped his book. "Oh, I am sorry," he bent down to pick up the  
volume and when he arose to set his sights on his accident victim, he met the chocolate  
eyes of a copper colored gargoyle, "...Delilah??"  
  
"Shadow," she managed quietly as she attempted to walk past, "it was my fault."  
  
"Wait." He grabbed her arm and forcefully stopped her from slipping away. "Please."  
  
She coerced herself to again make eye contact and bored into him with a tired glower.   
Perhaps her most radiant feature had been destroyed by relentless crying, her eyes were  
bloodshot, and her golden features, inherited from her human mother's vigorous skin  
color, were pale in comparison, almost to the point as if it were revealing a declining  
health.  
  
Shadow relented to her sickly facade and winced, "I am truly sorry."  
  
"...go away..." she whispered, a barely audible plea.  
  
"But I..."  
  
"Please leave me alone, Shadow." She ripped from his powerful grip and proceeded to  
head in the direction of the library's fireplace with an unsteady stride.  
  
"I...I thought we could talk...I would like to help you..."  
  
"Don't you get it?!!" she screamed in a voice so much like Demona's, whirling around  
and her eyes glowing an angry crimson. "I don't want or need your help!!" Tears  
streamed forth and immersed her skin in a glistening of sheer agony, her malicious words  
becoming torn within her throat. Shadow moved to console her, but she quickly caught  
his arms. "I was in love with you, but you turned me away. You can't imagine the pain I  
feel right now, the absolute despair that my life has become! I...just want to be left  
alone..." She pushed him away and ran from the library, holding her hands to her face,  
muffling her sobs as she disappeared from sight.  
  
Shadow swallowed hard, constraining himself to suppress the growing rage and almost  
ripping the book he held in two. "I am sorry..."  
  
****************************************  
  
"Hey gorgeous."  
  
Annika turned from her position at the writing desk, to see her boyfriend entering her  
bedroom, coming up alongside and running his hands along her wing struts.  
  
"What's going on?" Todd asked as he gently kissed her forehead and connected with a  
watery seaway of sapphire, contained within her large eyes.  
  
"Same old thing," she responded in a shirked drawl, "out for patrol. No crime, as there's  
over two feet of snow on the ground and the mercury has dropped below freezing.   
Having to watch one of my friends grieve for her family, night after night." Annika stood  
up and moved to the center of her room, while Todd remained to the side, a regretful grin  
smoothing over his lips.  
  
"Oh. Stupid question, huh?"  
  
"Of course not," she quickly answered, drifting back to her boyfriend and wrapping her  
wings around them both, "it's just hard watching Delilah cry every night and cut herself  
off from the rest of us."  
  
"I used to do that, when I was younger." Todd started, with Annika pulling back slightly  
to link her gaze with his. "When my parents were killed and I was placed in the  
children's home, I used to think I was all alone, even though I was surrounded by many  
friends who wanted to help me. It's like...you're on an entirely different world. A world  
where you're the only inhabitant."  
  
"But how can we help her if she won't let us?"  
  
"She has to want us to help her. Then and only then, the healing can begin." Todd  
pressed his forehead to Annika's, playing with the mass of platinum hair falling behind.   
"Trust me on this one. I know what it's like to lose your family. So do you, in a way."   
He noticed a saddened facial cast cross her features and tried to change the subject.   
"How's Elisa doing?"  
  
"A lot better than anyone expected. The nightmares have subsided and she's spending a  
lot of time with Trinity and Goliath. He rarely leaves her side."  
  
"Do you blame him?" he asked.  
  
"I guess not. If the person I loved was assaulted and almost raped, I would spend every  
waking minute with them."  
  
Todd's grip vigorously tightened around Annika's slender frame, knowing the life her  
adoptive family leads was perhaps more dangerous than he dared to admit. "Man, life  
can turn to crap sometimes. First Thailog tries to rape Elisa, then he kills the clones. I  
mean, I didn't know them very well, but they were still pretty cool. They were the last  
people on this planet that deserved to die."  
  
"I know." she whispered, burrowing into his neck, and sensing the strength he granted to  
her in just his sweet touch. "Hopefully...Delilah will be all right."  
  
****************************************  
  
White fields of ivory lay across the expanse of the courtyard and towers of castle  
Wyvern, and a trail of footprints left by a solitary journeyer were quickly faded from any  
recollection by an ever increasing snowfall. Delilah trudged the steps of Goliath's tower,  
and emerged into the harshest of winds, only come to life at this impressive height. Her  
hair curled and twisted in the flowing gale, and the snow built upon her shoulders, but  
she never took notice.  
  
She leaned against the perch where Goliath had watched over the castle for so long, and  
cast her pensive gaze into the city. The snow had performed a remarkable task of  
disguising the older buildings' faded exteriors, bringing their withered prominence to  
rival even the newest and grandest of towers. She never tired of this view, as she had  
lived most of her short life underneath the streets and in the consuming darkness.  
  
Before long, she would sense a wetness on her cheek. At first she thought it was the  
swirling of frozen rain, but as she touched a talon to her face, she felt yet another tear  
trickling down and running under her chin. Her tears could barely be contained now,  
flowing self-actively without any an initiation. She trembled violently, as soon the  
weather would take a turn for the worse and she wrapped her frosted wings around her  
shoulders to protect her from the cold.  
  
The city below her was quiet tonight. No sirens, no pedestrian noise and barely a car  
honking. Barely a soul existing outside in this frigid world, safely concealed in their  
homes of steel and brick. But there was something else in the air, a haunting sound that  
remained suspended in the sky and reflected off the stone walls. She turned to face the  
courtyard and the sound grew louder, seeming to come from the castle itself. Her gaze  
fell upon a lone tower far back from the main structures. She recognized this sound. It  
was Shadow's flute.  
  
Delilah freed a mournful sigh into the air, her breath dissipating just as fast as it was  
released. She had always enjoyed listening to his music, but now it served as a biting  
reminder to the young clone of their past conversation, a revelation of his own feelings  
that could never match what she so desperately wanted to hear. She turned to escape  
from the tower and the tormented feelings associated with every note of the soft soprano,  
but was seized in place when the music changed melodies, flowing into something she  
did recognize. "The Song of Souls..."  
  
It was the song that Shadow had played for her months earlier, the song he played for his  
grandfather when he died. She shut her eyes and chastised herself for yelling at the dark  
warrior in the library. For he too had lost his entire family years before, and he too knew  
the pain she was feeling.  
  
She hopped to the ledge and glided down to the solitary turret, landing in front of the  
massive wooden door that led into Shadow's room, towering above her. The music was  
strong, even through the thick stone walls. She pressed upon the door with her talons,  
and after a mere moment of hesitation, urged the barrier open with a subtle thrust.  
  
Delilah gasped with shock as she slipped through and entered the room. This was the  
first time she had ever seen the inside of his chambers. The walls were covered with  
ancient tapestries and paintings from the country he claimed as his own, with weapons of  
every shape and size hanging between them. The glistening steel of the swords and  
knives and spears, captured the glow of the firelight, emanating from the large flaming  
pit in the center of the room. Numerous wooden shelves contained vases, statues and  
books, covered in Japanese script, gathered in arranged places with an ever meticulous  
eye.  
  
Her gaze centered on the owner of this amazing asylum, placed in a sitting position near  
the wall, with his back towards Delilah. His hair, released from their braided confines,  
had flowed forth over his shoulders and wings, their impressive length pooled onto the  
ground.  
  
Senses beyond that of normal men and gargoyles, able to percieve things that no one else  
could, and yet, he was perchance too absorbed in his music and his own feelings of guilt  
to notice her encroach upon his side. He was finally broken from his playing when a  
hand brushed aside his shoulder. Peering from between the layers of bleached tress, he  
bore witness to a copper colored gargess standing above him. "Delilah!!" he shouted,  
quickly rising to his feet and his long hair falling to below his knees. "What...what are  
you doing here?"  
  
"I'm sorry to intrude, but I heard your flute."  
  
"Your presence is never an intrusion. You are always welcome in my chambers."  
Shadow replied as he looked down at the flute in his hands. "I just thought you did not  
want to speak with me."  
  
Delilah too followed his eyes to the instrument held in his grasp. "I heard your song.   
The Song of Souls."  
  
"I was playing it as a tribute to your fallen brothers. I...wanted to play at the  
service...but..."  
  
"I'm sorry." she quickly cut in.  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For yelling at you in the library."  
  
"You needn't apologize. You were angry."  
  
"That still never gave me the right to scream at you. You have gone through exactly  
what I am going through now. And I was also angry about our...conversation after the  
baby shower."  
  
"I..." Shadow tried to speak, but with a motion of Delilah's hand, he quickly silenced  
himself.  
  
"I had no right to get angry. You told me the truth, you didn't feel the same way. I  
should have accepted it, but it made me feel like...I truly didn't belong anywhere. I have  
tried to fit in with the others, but," she held up her hand and looked intensely at her four  
fingers before clenching them into a fist, "I'm still a creation, nothing but a laboratory  
experiment."  
  
"You are not an experiment!" Shadow snatched her hand within his own, giving her a  
reassuring squeeze. "You are a unique individual who is very strong, very caring, and  
very beautiful. You are surrounded by friends and family that do not care where you  
came from, but who you are."  
  
The clone smiled weakly before the look of mourning, which she had worn for the past  
week, forcefully overpowered her features, disquieting Shadow's reserve, unwilling to  
see her in anymore pain.  
  
"I do know how you feel, but I never had anyone else to rely on when my grandfather  
died. You have the entire clan, and the mutates...and me. I will be by your side, always."  
  
Delilah turned back to the room's interior, attempting to avoid his penetrating gaze. "But  
just as a friend, right?" she whispered.  
  
"Perhaps...more." He caressed Delilah's face and leaned over to bring his face level with  
her own. He closed his eyes and gently touched his lips to hers.  
  
Delilah was taken aback, completely surprised by what she had only dreamed about, but  
surrendered to his enchantment, held in Shadow's arms, and snared by his incredibly  
caring kiss. The dark warrior dropped the flute with a clatter to the stonework and  
wrapped his arms around her body.  
  
She clasped to his tattooed chest and burrowed deeper in the muscular breadth of his  
massive frame. The kiss lingered and it wasn't until Shadow broke from Delilah's  
mouth, that the clone was able to take a breath. "Oh wow..." She stepped back and  
stared at Shadow with a trembling lower lip. "B-But I thought..."  
  
He smiled softly, a bashful hint trying to be concealed. "I confess, I have had...stirrings.   
The way you ran away the night I told you how I felt, has been burned forever into my  
memory. The way you gently cradle your baby sister in your arms. The way you appear  
when you smile...the way you looked when your brothers lay dying before you. I have  
never seen you so sad, so...vulnerable. I wanted to help you, to hold you, but I was  
unsure of how to proceed. I have never experienced love, I have never had  
these...feelings before, and I was afraid to act on them. That is why I pushed you away."  
  
Delilah's face lightened into a smile. "You...were afraid?"  
  
Shadow responded with a frown and lifted his chin slightly. "I fear nothing...except  
hurting those I care for. And I care about you, perhaps now more than anyone else and  
more than anything else." He extended his arm and open hand to call to her, and she  
responded quickly, stepping into his embrace. His spiked wings enfolded them in a  
domain of leather warmth, and he stole his arms around her shoulders and back.  
  
She rested against his chest, gliding talons across stretched skin, marked with the bright  
glow of his cursive brands and felt it rise with every breath he took. Since freed from a  
madman's service years ago and since watching from afar as couples grew close to love  
and live as one, her life, though extremely short, had become a search for someone to  
care for her as well. And now this dark, grim beast of a gargoyle, who barely  
acknowledged any of the clan, had chosen her, and her alone. "I've wanted to be held in  
your arms ever since I met you." she whispered, for by virtue of this moment, her pain  
had temporarily disappeared.  
  
"I will always be there for you," he replied in an affectionate tone, outwardly unusual for  
the dark warrior, "I promise."  
  
Delilah knew she had started to cry again, but never tried to hold the streaming tears  
back. "Thank you." she said, knowing some day, she would come to terms with the  
death of her brothers, and the gargoyle holding her in his powerful arms would be there  
every step of the way.  
  
The night was theirs to live out in a new perspective, as joined by a painful past and a  
desperate quest for a family to care for. The moon drifted to the distant horizon, fading  
from their sight, and in the small tower they stayed, enjoying the closeness their loving  
touch brought forth. Delilah would ask of him a favor, to play the Song of Souls for her  
again, and this time meaning more than she could possibly imagine. The shadows  
retreated to the emergence of the sun, rising from it's celestial perch, encasing the  
gargoyles and locking the couple together in perpetual stone. In each other's arms, and  
in each other's hearts. 


End file.
